Air register or louver



y 7, 1956 H. s. BERTLING 2,754,747

AIR REGISTER OR LOUVER Filed March 20, 1953 327 2 Eta." 27 I F I G l a i 23 HERMA INVENTROQ:

Fl G N G.BE LING ATTORNEY United States Patent AIR REGISTER OR LOUVER Herman G. Bertling, Baltimore, Md.

Application March 20, 1953, Serial No. 343,583

3 Claims. (Cl. 93-106) This invention relates to the control of air flow through ducts and more particularly to the registers, dampers, grilles and filters used in connection therewith.

The invention has among its objects the provision of a new and improved register unit for a duct opening that will avoid one or more of the disadvantages and limitations of the prior art.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved register unit with an individual damper and also a removable and replaceable filter separately incorporated in a frame that permits them to be handled by themselves to attain adjustment, take care of maintenance phases or replacement.

A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improved register unit effective in use, simple in design and of a structure lending itself to economical production.

Other objects will become apparent as the invention is more fully outlined.

In the usual form of air register unit, the structure is provided with a set of louvers disposed on the face of the wall inside the room being air-conditioned. These louvers are installed in a permanent manner in the frame of the structure.

In this invention the air register or louver unit is hingedly attached at its bottom to the frame and swings outwardly at its upper edge portion into the room to provide access to the filter attached to the inner surface of the air register or louver so it may be changed at predetermined intervals. The damper is positioned in the upper end of the frame by spring loaded hinges that normally keep the damper wide open. A cord or chain is used to control the amount of damper opening from the duct to the register or louver. This construction gives certain practical features that will be referred to more fully in the specification.

For a clearer understanding of the invention and the objects thereof reference is made to the accompanying drawings, wherein a particular form of the invention is shown and which is described in the following description. This provides an illustration of the invention while the claims indicate the scope thereof.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front view of a register or louver unit embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section through part of the filter structure;

Figure 4 is a,detail of the catch employed to hold the damper chain; and

Figure 5 is a detail of the catch used to hold the register or louver section closed in the frame.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

In the construction indicated in the drawings, a frame made of angle iron and of rectangular contour and with short and long legs forms a structure adaptable for placement around a suitable opening 11 in the wall 12 of a building or other structure. A short side 14 of the angle is fitted against the face of the wall and serves to cover up any irregularities of the masonry of the opening. Holes 13 are provided in this side of the frame and bolts 17 pass through them to fasten the frame in place. The long side 15 of the angle projects inwardly into the opening. A damper 16 is hinged at 18 on the upper horizontal side of the frame at the rear thereof, and tends to swing upwardly and open under the resilient tension of a spring 19 built into the hinge. A ball chain or wire 20 is attached to the lower edge of the damper 16 and is made long enough to extend to the front of the frame where an operator can manipulate it. The operator pulls on the chain and pulls the damper angularly down over the opening in the frame and the chain is slipped on to a catch 21 to hold it at the selected position. The hinge 18 is preferably located near the edge of the side 15 so as to space the damper back from the face of the frame, but to allow it to cover the opening in the frame.

A combination rectangular filter and louver door 30 is held by hinges 22 close to its bottom edge and to that of the frame. This enables the door to swing from the top downwardly and outwardly to a horizontal position. The filter panel 23 is of any conventional material and preferably asbestos or other fireproof fabric used for filtering hot air flowing through the duct 26. The louvers 24 are preferably set stationarily, and both filter and louvers are held together in a secondary frame 25. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the inner edges of the louvers 24 are in the same plane and substantially in contact with panel 23.

The frame, louvers and filter overlap on the primary frame 10 and the sides 14 thereof. The position of the secondary frame 25 is such that it is spaced appreciably from the damper by the length of the side 15 of the angle iron of the frame 10. This space enables the incoming air from the duct 26 which is attached to the inner side 15 of the angle iron frame, to accumulate and form a cushion before it passes through the door 30. This absorbs the tendency of the air to become noisy and erratic, and produces a more even flow through the whole area of the secondary frame. If it is not desired to employ the filter and louvers, the door 30 can be adjustably positioned to a suitable angle to suit the particular needs arising. When the door is open as shown in Figure 2, the air flow will be directed towards the upper strata of the room. The door 30 is held in closed position against the frame 10 by a latch 27 operated from the outside by a handle 28 and a string 29. The latch 27 is normally tensioned upwardly by a spring 31, to engage with a keeper 32 to hold the louver door closed.

The whole structure, including the frame, damper, and filter louver door, are assembled into and form a single unit, so it can be readily installed as a single operating unit in an opening provided for it.

While but one general form of the invention is shown in the drawings and described in the specification, it is not desired to limit this application for patent to this particular form as it is appreciated that other forms of construction could be made that would use the same principles and come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. An air register adapted to be connected, through an opening in an enclosure wall, with an air duct; said register comprising a primary frame having oppositely disposed side members and a top and a bottom member, means for filtering air and directing it in a plurality of streams from said duct into said enclosure, said means including a secondary frame having fixed louvers extending from one side thereof to the other and a bottom member hingedly connected to the bottom member of the primary frame at one edge of said member to permit the secondary frame to swing from a position in which it fills the exit portion of the primary frame to ,a plurality of positions in .which the secondary .frarne projects into said enclosure, and ,a flat filter panel of homogeneous construction spanning the ,opening in the secondary :frame, said louvers having valined edges lying in ,a ,plane closely adjacent to said filter panel; said register including a damper, spring hingesconnecting saiddamperto the top member of said primary frame to vurge thedamper to swing into the outlet of a duct communicating with the register,-damper operating means including a flexible element having b a 1l members secured thereto at spaced intervals, a catch element mounted on the .bottom member of the primary frame between the .oppositeedges ,of said member and having a restricted slot therein Iopening upwardly and of a Width to seleetively-receivea portion ofthe flexible elementbetween two .of the balls thereon with one of the balls engaging the edges of .the slot and means operative to hold the secondary frame in position to present the filter panel across the air passage into said enclosure.

2. An air register of the type set forth in claim 1, in which the .last mentioned :means includes a keeper mounted on the top member of said primary frame, a latch structure carried by said secondary frame and a spring arranged to removably engage said latch with said keeper.

3. An air register of the type set forth in claim 2, in which said latch structure includes a member having one end pivotally mounted on said secondary frame and having an upturned portion at its other end engageable with said keeper, an enlargement provided with an opening between said ends, a flexible element having one .end secured in said opening, said spring being mounted to engage said latch between said enlargement and said other end.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,502,844 Bingman July 29, 1924 1,705,418 Rosell Mar. 12, 1929 1,841,347 Tuttle Jan. 12, 1932 '1;94'6,7 88 Germonprez Feb. 13, 1934 1,952,707 Germonprez Mar. 27, 1934 2,136,065 Voigt Nov. 8, 1938 1,155 ,018 Lintern et a1. Apr. 18, 1939 2,245,602 "Schultz et al June 24, 1941 

